blog

Oct 9

If you try to keep up with the latest and greatest advances in nutrition, it's easy to get overwhelmed. So many fascinating lines of inquiry reveal new wrinkles every day. However, when we track backward to the underlying themes and consider how they can (or should) impact our day to day approach to eating for health, things mostly stay the same. 

Theme 1: Eat real food - more natural, less processed - mostly plants. The evidence supporting this one continues to grow. Whether it's better brain health via the low process, plant-forward MIND Diet, reducing the risk of depression by severely limiting ultra-processed food, cutting back on the 8 preservatives linked to high blood pressure or finding the whole grain sweet spot (about 4-6 servings per day) to sharply lower cardiometabolic risk factors like belly fat, cholesterol, triglycerides and blood sugar, real food continues to out-perform industrial food-like items built to sit on a shelf. One new study even found nuance when considering a well-documented nutritional villain: a major difference in risk when comparing naturally occurring trans-fat and industrially produced trans-fat. We'll keep an eye on that one, but for now, it's probably best to save the fallout foods for times when the goal is to survive; eat real food when you want to thrive.

Theme 2: More than Macros - bolster the biome for big benefits. In the grand scheme of nutritional info, the idea that healthy eating provides not only what our system needs to operate but also what the microbial ecosystem living in, on and around us needs, is still a relatively new discovery. However, the more we learn, the more important this ecosystem becomes. Therefore, taking care of it - often in the same ways as theme 1 above - is key to our future thriving. 

A few new studies continue to offer direction on how best to do this. While the fiber in fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds has been in the spotlight since the beginning here as "good bacteria food" and fermented foods are gaining steam, newer insights suggest there is also benefit in other compounds on board. Coffee, which is rich in polyphenols among other notable compounds, may not only be the caffeine kick-starter many of us rely on. This research published in April showed that whether caffeinated or decaf, coffee strongly impacted the gut-brain axis and related to improvements in cognition and memory in those who consumed it. Similarly, phytochemical compounds found in mulberries may have a powerful impact on metabolism. However, how the plant is processed can strongly influence its effect. 

On the other end of the spectrum, how we care for the gut-biome when it is depleted also matters. Much like the connection between alcohol consumption (which kills bacteria) and changes in the gut-biome which we reviewed in August of 2023, what we eat after a course of antibiotics - which are also relatively blunt-force bacteria killers - matters. New research out last month showed that those who consumed a diet heavier in simple sugars (sweets, etc.) while on antibiotics experienced greater and longer gut-biome disruption than those who did not.

Theme 3: Fads Fail - play the long game. Have you had your protein water yet today? OK, that was sarcastic but the race to put protein in everything right now reminds me a lot of "low fat" of yester-year. Please don't get me wrong here - if you've recently reviewed your consumption patterns and found that, like many, you're a bit low in protein, finding ways to increase that intake and inch closer to guidelines (which, not without controversy, have gone up recently) may make sense. We know that protein (and the amino acids that make it up) do more than build muscle. For example, as shown in this study from last year, leucine (one of the branched-chain amino acids) also has an important role in cellular energy regulation by supporting mitochondrial function. Studies like this might make us wonder if more is better. Not always. This February study does a good job showing the double edge of high-protein diets and fatty liver disease (one of the most common liver diseases globally). There is no perfect diet, but there is a sustainable one - aim for that.

Of course, there are MANY MANY more, and we'll keep updating as things become clearer. However, until then - beware the fads, respect the biome and load up on real food, heavy on plants - becuase, as the adage goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Have a great weekend,

Mike E.